Latent Juncture
by klassekatze
Summary: Magic vanished in the Fall. Decades later, the last witch is an agent of Firewall, fighting threats to the existence of humanity. Until on a mission, she stumbles across a gateway through time; a chance to get answers, and to restore everything humanity has lost. She takes it, but finds that she has not just gone back... but sideways. Now she is amidst a war - a war that never was.


Italics are used for thoughts in first person, such as those directed at a muse.

Text in brackets is used for internal, electronic communications. Names will be provided if needed to remove ambiguity.

...Fuck it, we'll do it live

* * *

[Nyssa: ETA to target approx 3 minutes.]

[Jack: Yeah, yeah. We've all got the countdown on entoptics.]

Nyssa sighed, not that anyone was in a position to hear her.

[Nyssa: Do you have to be a smartass?]

[Jack: Yes.]

Nyssa was in a glorified coffin. Generally speaking, there was no stealth in space. The closest you could get was to look like something else. That was why she and three other Firewall agents were in a fancy tin can disguised as a metallic asteroid. There was still a chance they'd all die, but the brass felt there was enough of a chance to justify this whole routine. Worst case they woke up in a clinic and were informed of their pointless death. In the end, it only cost Firewall fabricator feedstock, and maybe a little rep or credits for the next set of bodies.

They'd been coasting along toward the target station for the last four months.

She still wasn't sure if Firewall was where she ought to be. Ostensibly, they were all on the same side, with the mission to safeguard humanity from threats to their continued existence.

As far as she knew, she was the last wizard— or witch, depending on the morph she was using— to escape the Fall. She had never found any others, anyway.

It was all rather strange. She had no cortical stack, no backups. But somehow, when the Fall happened and what remained of the wizarding world disappeared without a trace, she woke up in a generic splicer biomorph on a derelict station orbiting Earth.

Given the threat of death by everything from starvation to life support failure, she found the motivation to study like never before. Before, she was a walking stereotype; pureblood and dismissive of muggle accomplishment. That disdain faded as the world marched on, but she never really engaged with the muggle world. It had trickled into the wizarding world some, but wizards lived a long time, and they did not care to change overmuch. Perhaps it was in the blood, for a people for whom ability was more about the right touch of madness than any logic. Though most insisted it was merely eccentricity. Either way, she suspected that even as the muggleborns brought sanity they degenerated the talent to work _new_ magic, rather than rote.

By the time she escaped that station, she knew more about technology than she ever expected to learn. Even then, she would have died without the pale reflection of magic that was all she could use.

[Aurora: The electronic countermeasures and thrusters will activate in 120 seconds.]

Aurora was her muse. Nyssa had been terrified when, after she woke on that station, a voice spoke in her head. Within the week she owed her life to that voice, and believed in muse's as solidly as any transhuman could. Aurora wasn't her first, but it had all of its memories, and was a lot smarter.

[Rob: So you don't mind if I grab some souvenirs on the way out right?]

[Amelia: How exactly are you planning to get them out? We are going to egocast out of here.]

[Rob: If a research lab doesn't have any ships or a way to fab them, I'll eat my hat.]

[Nyssa: No souvenirs, Rob; unless Firewall is way off base this place is going to be contaminated with who knows what. Smuggled TITAN samples, remember?]

She had only worked with these three twice. Jack was a morbid smartass, Rob was a kleptomaniac, and Amelia was always serious.

Firewall hadn't let Nyssa rise very far, despite her being a member since shortly after the Fall. She suspected someone had taken a peek at a copy of her ego, and decided anyone who remembered being a wizard was either insane or an incredibly suspicious case of falsified memories. Given her origin on Earth, inducing paranoia wasn't good for her career opportunities.

[Aurora: 60 seconds to activation.]

So here she was, on a suicide mission to fuck up some lab they were mostly sure was doing dangerous research on TITAN material.

[Amelia: They were in such a rush to pack us in here we never did address how we are supposed to get from the rock to the station…]

[Aurora: The side of the asteroid will be explosively detached at the last moment. Revealed thrusters will alter the pod trajectory to impact the station. 10 seconds.]

[Amelia: What.]

The pseudo-asteroid shuddered violently as one side exploded outward, a flare of light as it was pushed toward the station.

[Amelia: So basically if they paid for decent missiles we all die.]

[Nyssa: There is a reason why we updated our backups Amy.]

[Amelia: Fuck.]

[Aurora: Impacting now.]

The asteroid hit.

— — —

Nyssa shook her head, wincing.

Explosive bolts blew the coffin open, and she reflexively snapped up her SMG only to blanch.

[Nyssa: Fractal!]

Nyssa dropped the SMG and pulled a plasma rifle off her back, the weapon whining as Aurora started charging it before she even grasped the handle.

She wasn't fast enough to stop the glittering haze of nanomachines from enveloping one of his teammates.

[Rob: Oh hell—] His signal dropped.

[Amelia: ...So much for tech support.]

Nyssa pulled the trigger just before it reached her. Her entoptics clamped the glare but everything was washed out as the plasma incinerated the nanomachines. She held down the trigger until the rifle cut off. The lab was lit by the glow of molten metal.

[Jack: Mission FUBAR in 5 seconds, must be a new record. One down, three to go.]

[Amelia: Not a laughing matter okay. None of us are half as good with figuring out obscure computers.]

[Nyssa: I have, like, every skillsoft ever. It isn't as good as Rob but we'll get by.]

She tossed a few small nanodetectors through the room. She wasn't picking anything up, so the fractal was dead. Probably. At least it wasn't self replicating, given the lab still existed.

It was silent, despite them crashing into the station and firing a plasma rifle. Sure, she was in a vacuum, but many alarms produced a detectable vibration or signal. Either they had some fancy compartmentalized security setup, or...

Nyssa glanced around. The asteroid had just enough velocity to break through the outer wall, and blew itself open in what was apparently a smaller lab space. Shattered, frozen fluids gleamed as they drifted in zero gravity. There was only one door.

[Nyssa: Let's get moving. The room conforms to the standard layout Firewall procured for this research station model. If that holds, the important work is likely to be in the big space over there.] She highlighted the section and pushed it to Amelia and Jack.

All that was left of the team.

They hadn't expected any serious resistance; it was assumed any prepared station would just blow them away before they got on board. Active TITAN fractals fell under "serious".

Fortunately, Nyssa was paranoid. If at all possible she carried anything she could ever use. Every blueprint she got her hands on, she saved a copy, and her ideal loadout was sufficient to rebuild anything she expected to need. On a physical insertion like this, she had all of it.

No doubt a therapist would say she had PTSD from that derelict space station. But she knew it wasn't paranoia when they were really out to get you— or something like that, anyway.

Her terahertz sensor pinged. Something was coming.

Nyssa moved toward the door. She got to five meters before a hunter-killer drone flew into the room, instantly firing a micromissile. She activated her Neurachem even as she fired a burst of plasma.

The drone was sent hurtling back out the door as the missile exploded with concussive force. Nyssa was yanked loose from the floor and sent drifting backwards for a moment before Aurora activated her vector thrusters and halted her.

[Nyssa: Not sure if that killed it.]

[Jack: This doesn't look good Nyssa. The next one just has to spam something worse than a stun grenade and we're fucked. And I really don't want to know why it is trying to stun.]

Nyssa grimaced. Jack was right; this mission was going to hell fast.

But she wasn't going to just roll over and die.

Her terahertz sensor didn't pick up any movement, but it could be playing dead or have some way to hide from t-rays. She stepped through the door, her rifle already lined up with the last detected location of the bot.

It was just laying there, glowing. She fired more plasma into it. It was the only way to be sure.

[Nyssa: Should be dead now.]

Jack and Amelia came up behind her as she started moving down the hall.

As soon as they passed it, a door sealed the hallway behind them. Her entoptics indicated air pressure rising.

[Amelia: You think there is someone alive in here that needs air?]

[Nyssa: That or someone wants us to take off our hats and coats.]

[Jack: I'm sure some fractal wants to give a nice welcoming hug.]

Needless to say, they did not deactivate their suits.

Nyssa was on point, moving to the end of the hall. Nothing on t-rays.

The door tried to shut behind her, but Amelia lit her thrusters and flew through. Jack ran and it shut on his foot, crushing it.

With atmosphere, Nyssa could hear Jack let out a pained noise.

[Jack: Since when do they even make these things with the juice to crush shit?]

[Nyssa: If you were doing research on TITAN machines, I'm sure you'd want the doors to shut really damn hard too.]

She pulled out a utilitool and passed it to Amelia. She didn't have to say anything; Amelia switched it to a grinder and started cutting the door.

[Amelia: I have one of these, you know. Just because I don't carry every possible thing doesn't mean I don't have the standard kit. I think you are going to have to run on thrusters from here Jack.] She finished cutting his foot loose and tossed the tool back to Nyssa. [Amelia: If it weren't for the risk of nanotech getting in your suit I'd've just cut your foot off.]

[Jack: Screw you too.]

Nyssa glanced around a corner. Nothing but more hallway. She started down the hall, Jack and Amelia following.

As soon as she stepped into the hallway turrets popped out of the ceiling, walls and floor. Nyssa fired at one of them, the tacnet highlighting which of the others her teammates were shooting at. She retreated back around the corner right behind the others.

Bringing up diagnostics showed they had taken a considerable amount of bullets, but no critical damage. Medichines were repairing the damage, but it was likely rushing the guns would damage things they couldn't fix on the spot.

Nyssa heard a door open behind them and looked back. A thunking noise repeated itself.

She wasn't sure what—

The doorway exploded outward as a warbot that barely fit in the hall came lumbering out. Its massive form was covered in armor, weapons, and mechanical tentacles, all of which were aimed at them.

[Nyssa: Rush the turrets!]

Even as she sent the message Nyssa ran around the corner directly into the turrets, firing at them with her rifle. Better them than a warbot. Amelia was right behind her. Jack was jetting around on his thrusters but couldn't hug the corner and was swerving around when he was almost hit by a wave of plasma from the warbot. His signal flickered on Nyssa's list.

[Jack: Boy, am I glad I turned off pain receptors.]

[Amelia: Remind me to pass on high risk suicide missions in the future.] She was right behind her as they went flying over the sizzling remains of the turrets. The only advantage they had on the bot was speed.

They jetted down several more halls until they were at the door to a smaller lab. They could hear a hum as something kicked on nearby.

Nyssa glanced at the station map on her entoptics.

[Nyssa: Either we cut through this lab or take the long way.]

[Jack: If I was looking to live forever I wouldn't be in Firewall.]

[Amelia: How ironic. Let's just get it over with.]

Nyssa didn't bother opening the door; she could sense flickers of movement through t-rays. She blasted it with plasma and lunged through, her muse pre-emptively dampening her pain sensitivity as her boots scraped boiling metal.

She was literally standing in a cloud of superheated gas... surrounded by a haze of nanomachines. She swung the rifle, holding down the trigger, filling the entire lab with plasma until the gun cut off. The temperature soared. She could hear the sound of popping metal and kinetic weapons fire even as Jack and Amelia jumped into the room, with their backs to her.

Nyssa led as they jetted across the lab, ejecting the standard battery and slamming in another. Her muse handled her thrusters and spun her around so she could aim backwards even as the warbot started to come into view. [Nyssa: Get the door open!]

She didn't know what was wrong with the warbot, and it rankled knowing the only reason they were still alive was that its programming was seriously out of whack. Or worse, it was toying with them.

The warbot was covered in heavy armor. It was unlikely she could kill it but if she could slag the weapons on this side—

She pulled the trigger even as the first weapon came into view, the wash of plasma vaporizing the missiles.

Her entoptics showed Jack throwing something small toward the approaching door. When it reached it she felt them all momentarily slowed by a shockwave.

They flew through the door, Amelia jetting down so her micrograv boots could grab the floor just behind the doorframe outside, grasping Nyssa's arm even as Jack grabbed his and they swung behind the wall. Even as they rotated, Nyssa's rifle beeped and the plasma cut out. A half dozen missiles flew through the door, one of them clipping Jack and blowing away a third of his torso.

[Jack: Fucking bullshit. I'm out. I'll blow myself up or something when it reaches the door.]

Nyssa winced but didn't stop moving. Amelia didn't even seem to be bothered.

The big lab was at the end of this hall. The only problem was how to accomplish anything when—

There was a loud detonation followed by a rapid dropping of air pressure. Nyssa glanced back and saw the edge of the warbot. An explosion had destroyed the doorway— Jack, presumably— and the machine was jammed into a hole to space. That wouldn't last though.

Nyssa and Amelia slammed into the lab door. It was heavily reinforced and there was no way they'd have time to break it or hack it.

Nyssa glared at the door. Time seemed to slow down. She glanced at the doorway, all the parts. There wasn't enough. Even with sleights she couldn't figure out a way to open it in seconds…

Time seemed to stand still, and Nyssa and Amelia imploded.

On the other side of the door they exploded into existence, loud dual cracks on each side of the door. Nyssa spasmed and drifted.

[Amelia: Nyssa what the fuck!]

Nyssa twitched and started moving sluggishly.

[Nyssa: I'm an async. I don't know exactly what it was, I was pulling all the sleights I could to figure something out and it just happened.]

A lie, but she doubted saying it was wizard apparition but she didn't even know she could still do it until now would go over very well. Amelia was giving her an incredulous look as it was.

A series of shudders came from the heavily reinforced lab door.

[Amelia: You burned out some of my cyberware. For the record this is shit you tell your teammates ahead of time.]

Nyssa looked around the lab, her body still twitching. Diagnostic warnings indicated minor brain damage and significant inflammation. Some of her less hardened gear and implants had also fried. Clearly apparition in a muggle body, no matter how optimized, was… unwise.

There was a gargantuan tangle of metal. It was almost painful to look at, just like—

Just like a Pandora gate?

"Do you like what you see?"

Nyssa and Amelia snapped around to see a Hyperbright morph— a body optimized for brainpower— step out. He was grinning madly. His outfit looked charred in a few places and the cooling fins on his head were glowing dimly.

"I know what it looks like. It isn't meant to be a Pandora gate, though. It is a gate through time, not space. Surprisingly, much easier to accomplish. Makes you wonder..."

Nyssa eyed him warily.

The Hyperbright looked at them with a pitying expression. "It's alright. I don't expect people like you to understand. You're here to ruin everything."

[Amelia: I'm guessing we aren't shooting him just yet?]

"It doesn't matter. This never happened. I'll just tell myself you are coming— any moment now—"

Nyssa hit him with a Psi deep scan and they both froze.

Flashes of memory. She knew how to operate the gateway. The gateway was constructed using research on Pandora gates combined with analysis of illicitly acquired TITAN technology from Earth. Even the scientist had no idea how they'd managed to do it, but they froze a fractal in liquid oxygen and brought it back, along with the warbot. The fractal was key. Something in it unlocked something unlocked something something some—

Nyssa flinched back as something in her rejected whatever was in the Hyperbright's mind violently, physically pushing him back a meter or two. The scientist was bleeding from his eyes and ears. He looked back at Nyssa. "Wha— you— ga." He spasmed and went silent.

Nyssa snapped up her rifle and vaporized him.

[Amelia: I'm guessing that was some kind of async thing. So how do we blow this up?]

Nyssa paused.

There was no way they wouldn't load her from backup after she went inside the head of someone clearly infected with something. That was fine; it was just how it went.

And yet.

From what she had glimpsed the gate really worked. It had even been tested. The only reason their insertion succeeded at all was the scientist was literally insane at this point.

She'd always wanted to reclaim Earth. How could she not? It had all the answers, and it was where she lived the majority of her life. But it would never be the same, never be what she saw in her memories or in the muggle records. Some things lost... could never be regained.

Except she could regain them. She could fix everything.

[Nyssa: I don't think we should. I think we should use it.]

[Amelia: What? No. That isn't what we're here for— it's the opposite of what we are here for! If our superiors were here right now, they'd be saying the same thing.]

[Nyssa: I was in his head, the machine has already been used. Successfully. It can't do anything bad it hasn't done already.]

[Amelia: Nyssa, no— something was wrong with that guy, you were in his head, you know we have to destroy it.]

Amelia raised her rifle. Nyssa lifted her rifle in response.

[Nyssa: You'll never agree with me about this, because to you it isn't worth the risk. You are the ideal Firewall agent, putting the survival of what remains first. But I believe we've lost something, something we can never, ever get back. And if this works? Then I can make it so it is never lost at all. To me that is worth risking everything for.]

[Amelia: We can work something out.]

Nyssa stared at her for what seemed like forever.

She sighed, and Amelia tensed.

[Nyssa: No. We can't.]

She saw Amy's finger twitch. She fired.

Nyssa stood there for a moment, staring at the charred floor. It couldn't have ended any other way. Not really.

Finally, she sighed and coasted over to the remains of Amelia's head and neck.

It only took her half a minute to cut into it and pull out her cortical stack. Firewall would load her from backup. If the data wasn't damaged, she might find a use for her. Or it could just serve as a reminder— that even friends can, in the end, have incompatible loyalties.

The sound of the warbot banging on the door suddenly stopped. Nyssa glanced up in time to see the door glow dimly. It must have gotten over whatever error in its logic tree had it ramming its way through every door in the base. Now it was using its weapons.

Nyssa twitched and looked at the gateway. She could almost make sense of it... She shook his head and sprinted over to the controls. With a touch of Psi and her stolen memories it didn't take long. The only problem was that in previous tests, the portal was connected to itself. Nyssa wasn't sure what it would do if she aimed for before it was even built. But she had to try. There was no future here. Just twilight.

Her muse chimed. [Are you sure this is a good idea?]

You have a better one, Aurora?

[...No, I don't. Configuration is completed as specified. I've taken the liberty of programming it to destabilize after we pass through. In rough theory, it will nullify all molecular bonds within several kilometers. Failing that, a message will be transmitted to Firewall, stating the facility is overrun by the Exsurgent virus and TITAN machines.]

There was a dull whine as the system activated. There was a blinding flash. Nyssa stumbled as her vision blacked out and her face burned.

[...You've received light burns to the face. Medichines will have it fixed within 30 seconds.]

Nyssa moved clumsily behind the terminal.

After her vision was clear again. Nyssa looked over at the center. The portal was just like a Pandora gate— a black sphere, and something you shouldn't look at too long.

Nervously looking back at the door— which was starting to collapse like overheated wax— Nyssa reloaded her rifle. A quick look around the lab showed there wasn't much she could make use of.

"Fuck it," Nyssa said aloud. She activated her thrusters and jetted into the sphere—

Darkness. Nothing here.

Forever.

How long has it been?

I love you.

Something touched her hand. Whispers.

Equivalence.

Let the thing be destroyed.

— — —

It seemed to take Sirius an age to fall: his body curved in a graceful arc as he sank backwards through the ragged veil hanging from the arch.

Harry saw the look of mingled fear and surprise on his god fathers wasted, once-handsome face as he fell through the ancient doorway and disappeared behind the veil, which fluttered for a moment as though in a high wind...

The young wizard Harry Potter was staring at the veil when it exploded.

The tattered cloth had seemed to hesitate for a moment, still bent by Sirius's passage, before it disintegrated as the space within the arch explode outwards, whirling with ethereal energies in blue and green and colors that weren't colors. His vision seemed to blur strangely as he stared in horror.

The air seemed to flicker and twist; the arch made a terrible, deep groaning noise. Harry glanced away and saw the battle had stopped completely as both sides gazed warily at the arch.

The chamber shook as a terrible groan emitted from the arch, like the sound of tortured metal but off, somehow. Suddenly, a woman in a strange, skintight outfit flew out of the shattered space.

— — —

The moment Nyssa exited the gate she was both confused and exulted. She recognized this place— it was the British Department of Mysteries, the Death Room.

How ironic. Also suspicious.

[Destabilization in 1 second.]

Cutting it close much?

The shaking intensified as the arch of the veil shattered and was sucked in almost instantly, leaving a sphere of blazing energy that seemed to fold in on itself.

Nyssa felt herself being pulled backwards.

Oh, fucking hell. Kill all the safeties and fire the thrusters!

Every thruster on her back lit and fired, the nozzles quickly turning cherry red. Nyssa clenched her teeth and— There was a flash of pain as she used a sleight to slam herself into the floor, amplifying friction between her boots and the stone.

After a long few seconds, the suction halted.

[Reaction mass is critically low— not that it matters here. Earth normal gravity. The micrograv boot surfaces have been damaged.]

Nyssa finally looked up. A boy was gaping at her, and so were the other people present. She couldn't tell what they were thinking but—

"Avada Kedavra!"

Nyssa felt the terrible pressure even as she sidestepped, an arc of green lightning passing her. She snapped up her rifle and fired. In a fraction of a second, plasma hosed through the man responsible like a blowtorch through wax. When it cut off there was nothing but molten stone and a faint stink of burnt flesh.

Suddenly everyone was moving. Shouts and flashes of light crackled between the two sides— those in black robes and occasionally masks and everyone else. The ones in black had apparently grouped her with the rest, as they fired curses at her as much as they did others.

Nyssa aimed and fired the rifle again. She glimpsed a shield forming even as the the blast of plasma flared out. The light faded to show the man's robes were on fire, the shield falling in a burst of light as he panicked. Another burst and nothing remained.

She rolled behind the pedestal of the former portal. A glance saw the boy from earlier screaming incoherently, being held by a man. Poor bastard.

Luckily, the fight was wrapping up. Most of the blackrobes were being restrained by an old man. Another was working on a young woman who wasn't moving.

"Excuse me, miss?"

She saw the old man looking directly at him.

With a thought, her clothes reformatted, exposing her face.

"Yes?" she said lightly.

The man didn't seem off put in the least. "We've captured up all the Death Eaters here... the ones still alive anyway," there was a flicker of distaste on his face, "and while I would dearly love to speak to you, there are more of them about. If you would come with me…"

He gave her a kind smile, though her entoptics highlighted his face and indicated he was hiding significant stress. Not that that was surprising.

"I suppose I can do that, given they fired on me," she said slowly. He seemed momentarily taken aback.

"Ah, well— Forgive me, but I get the impression you aren't familiar with them?" He paused. "...My name is Albus Dumbledore."

Ah. That name she did remember, vaguely. He died while she was very young. Unfortunately, she had no idea who these 'Death Eaters' were.

"Would you have expected me to be familiar with them? All things considered." She raised an eyebrow inquisitively.

His expression was a combination of surprise, intrigue— and a small amount of concern. Her entoptics (un)helpfully displayed a pie chart.

"Well— A matter for another time. Suffice to say they are criminals."

A loud bang drew their attention. A woman ran cackling; Dumbledore whirled and fired a beam of light at her but she deflected it with another energy barrier.

"SHE KILLED SIRIUS!" the boy raved. "SHE KILLED HIM — I'LL KILL HER!"

Sirius? Surely he didn't mean Sirius Black, but she couldn't think of anyone else with the name.

The boy pulled loose from the man holding him and ran after the woman disappearing around the corner.

"...Well," Dumbledore said. He started striding purposefully after him, several of his fellows joining him.

Nyssa thought quickly. To go with them or— an opportunity! She stepped over to the prisoners tied up; the others weren't looking at her…

She deep scanned.

The Dark Lord — Boy-Who-Lived — prophecy — Sirius Black —

"What are you doing!"

She snapped loose to someone grabbing her, reflexively gripping him and starting to throw him over her shoulder before she halted.

"I was seeing if the prisoner knew anything useful," she said , raising an eyebrow at him. She was still processing what she'd seen.

"You're a legilimens?" The man looked at her warily.

"Is that a problem?" Nyssa said flatly.

"...No," he said finally. "I'm Kingsley Shacklebolt."

Nyssa paused.

Well, she'd always been a little impulsive. Given Sirius was dead ahead of schedule, and there were terrorists everywhere, this was a terrible idea. Still, she wasn't one for lying. And for better or worse— and she considered it to be worse— there were no Blacks left in a position to demand an explanation. Her stomach lurched at the very idea.

"Nyssa Black."

Kingsley seemed shocked.

"Black? As in..." he said.

"As in the House of Black," Nyssa said flatly. Truly, it was a shame she couldn't blame muggles for using a simple name they didn't know was taken. Still, muggleborn were discouraged from using it...

Her attention returned to Kingsley as he spoke. "I was just… surprised. I was under the impression there weren't any of you— that is, Blacks, left…"

"I've been away for a long time," she lied smoothly. "It is all a bit personal…"

Kingsley hesitated.

"You don't look much like a Black," he blurted, wincing as soon as he said it.

She frowned. Her original body was lost in the Fall. She hadn't bothered with biosculpting the Fury morph she was using for the mission, so it didn't look anything like she ought.

Even so, the Fury baseline wasn't that far off, and that was quite rude.

"...I'm sorry? ...Let's just say this isn't my usual appearance."

He looked at her a moment then sighed.

"I don't suppose you could tell me what that is?" He gestured toward her rifle.

She glanced at him. "It fires a stream of plasma." Seeing his confusion, she elaborated. "Like… the stuff the sun and stars are made of."

"Impressive magic— I've never seen anything like that," he said, eyeing her.

"Yes, well— perhaps we should go see where Dumbledore has gotten off to?"

He nodded after a moment, and she followed him out of the room.

They moved quickly through a room filled with strange, tentacled brains, Kingsley pushing a few away with bursts of light from his wand. One of the men who had followed Dumbledore was there attending to several children.

They stepped into a dark chamber with twelve doors, which began spinning.

"Exit," Kingsley said clearly. The spinning halted, one of the doors swinging open and the man striding through. Following him brought them to a pair of lifts. Kingsley called one and they stood there waiting.

"Prepare yourself; we don't know what's above," he said. Nyssa nodded, Aurora pulling up diagnostics. Half her cyberware was unresponsive, some from her teleporting into the lab, others going offline when she came through the portal. Otherwise she seemed to be in good condition.

Nyssa swapped the battery in her rifle with a fully charged one on her belt as they stepped into the lift. A dull whine came from the capacitor. Kingsley glanced at it but remained silent.

The lift jerked to a halt and Nyssa triggered her neurachem bioware. Time slowed down as she glanced through the grill, her t-ray sensor highlighting those she couldn't see clearly.

Dumbledore and the enemy leader— Voldemort— were fighting, titanic arcs of energy and beams of light flying between them. Objects were transfigured into flying, sacrificial shields or fantastical attack automatons only to be obliterated by bursts of green energy.

Oh, this was a terrible idea, but… ah well.

She raised her rifle and fired, vaporizing the elevator grill and using her tortured thrusters to boost her leap. She landed just outside where the burn scarred the floor and aimed the weapon at Voldemort—

Whose head snapped toward her far too fast even as he continued to counter Dumbledore, his eyes widening as she pulled the trigger—

The plasma spread obliterated his position even as her sensors showed an object blinking into existence behind her. She dropped, still in the slow motion of chemically accelerated time, barely avoiding a thick arc of green light. Twisting like a cat she pointed the rifle at him only for him to implode with a crack, her sensor picking him up behind her. She leaned back and saw him aiming his wand at her face, a malevolent green glow rapidly building at the tip—

Voldemort teleported again as an enormous golden statue went flying in front of her, nearly grazing her nose.

Nyssa's boots hit the floor and snapped to it and she swung upright, turning as she did. Clearly, this Voldemort had augmentations of his own— perhaps ritual magic. The real question was how was Dumbledore keeping up, was he also so enhanced? She'd never seen him fight when he was alive, before.

Nyssa quickly decided that involving herself in this fight truly was a bad idea and moved behind some rubble.

She watched the fight, her thoughts full of turmoil. Voldemort left, only to have somehow hijacked the boy's body. Still, he broke free.

And suddenly people were pouring into the hall, led by an ill looking man with a hat. They started gesticulating at each other while shouting. The man was, apparently, the Minister for Magic.

Dumbledore pointed his wand at the severed head of the statue and it glowed blue. His eyes flickered over to her, and suddenly the head split in half. She saw him hand one half to the boy, and he vanished.

The other half rolled toward her. To her it was obvious what he wanted. He wanted the unknown variable out of the way.

I think not.

She carefully avoided the enchanted metal as she walked over to the group.

"Hello," she said, smiling brightly at the Minister, even as her opinion of him continued to drop. Dumbledore glanced at her, a hint of irritation flickering across his face. "I hope you can help me— I'm Nyssa Black, and I haven't been in Britain in ages…"

Dumbledore blanched even as the Minister snapped his head toward her.

After dealing with hypercorp executives and outer rim anarchists alike, a rather dim and traumatized politician should be trivial.

If she were a muggle, she'd be concerned with the need to prove her identity. Fortunately, she was not.

Wizard's didn't do DNA; they had standards far more rigorous. She may not literally have the blood anymore, but these magics didn't give a damn about literally. If it was that simple, polyjuice would have screwed everyone over. Her identity was etched in her soul and she knew she would pass. Even if she hadn't yet been— and apparently never would be— conceived, Sirius Black was her father, and blood would out.

— — —

A/N

In case you didn't get the hint, Voldemort, Dumbledore, and other scary figures get a bit of buff to explain why people didn't just dogpile them and win. In this world, they sometimes did— and failed miserably. Nyssa is only still alive through a combination of being dismissed and doing too much space yoga and drugs. The students lived because the DEs that were sent were mostly fat cats that weren't taking it seriously and were supposed to avoid messy maiming or killing regardless. Needless to say they weren't expecting the swarm of brats to respond by committing mass destruction to every bloody object in the DoM.

Nyssa is going to have to think fast— her rifle got attention and it won't guarantee kills once enemies realize to flame freeze so they don't ignite from air being heated around the shield…

It should be self evident, but if she remembers a different history, either her memories have been trolled or her history isn't this history. I'll go ahead and say she isn't being trolled. There is also a reason why this history in particular, in this time, in this place. She hasn't spent much thought on any of this because she is too busy getting her footing.

Dissatisfied with the story description, but eh. Best I can think of right now in 384chars.

I just want to get this out and see if there is any interest. Some of this chapter might change, depending on feedback. Let me know what you think, eh?

Some definitions for Eclipse Phase (though I try to make it possible to infer what things are):

Morph - a body, basically. Biological or mechanical, a catchall term for something you put a mind in that is able to move around and so on.

Ego - The mind, all the information your brain holds, a copy of everything that makes you you. Sometimes referred to as a soul, in Eclipse Phase anyway. People who believe otherwise don't exactly go around resleeving or making backups, and as such most died permanently in the Fall.

Cortical stack - repository for the ego to be backed up to.

Entoptics - Augmented reality. Heads up displays, filters, etc.

Asyncs - Asyncs refer to those who have, through exposure to a space cthulhu virus, gained powers incomprehensible to science at the cost of mental disorders. Naturally, Nyssa is referred to as such by the muggles. Their powers don't hold a candle to wizards, but they can do a few things wizards have not been seen doing, and do not require a focus. Async powers are mysteriously linked to the ego rather than the body; many theories abound, lots of people throwing the word 'quantum' around.

Psi - The catchall category for the abilities of asyncs, referred to individually as sleights.

Neurachem - Bioware that basically lets you accelerate/enhance your mind and nervous system, Slow motion and so on. It has side effects at the level Nyssa was using here.

Fury morph - All-female high end combat morph. One of the better ones per fluff, at least if you want to look like a human that won't be called a creature and barred from muggleland in 1995.


End file.
